MILAN, Italy -- Robert Karlsson of Sweden shot a course-record 11-under 61 Friday to take the lead after the second round of the Italian Open on the European Tour.

Karlsson had two eagles and eight birdies to go with one bogey to finish the round at 15-under 129. Hennie Otto and Mark Foster were two strokes back in second place after both shot 66 to go with first-round 65s. Estanislao Goya and Anders Hansen were four shots off the lead.

John Daly followed up Thursday's 67 with a 73 to sit 11 strokes back.

Karlsson's 61 was the lowest round of his 20-year career and came within two strokes of setting the record for the European Tour. Karlsson, ranked 48th, started with three straight birdies and an eagle on the first four holes.

The Swede's 15-under total at the Castello di Tolcinasco Golf and Country Club is the third-lowest 36-hole score in European Tour history.

For a few magical moments, Karlsson thought he could be just minutes away from becoming the first player ever to score 59 on the European Tour.

As with everybody else in that envious position so far, it did not happen. But setting the new course record and tying the lowest round of his 20-year Tour career was good enough.

His round at Castello di Tolcinasco just south of Milan even included a drive into water on the 433-yard 13th, his fourth. But the 38-year-old had started with three successive birdies, he then eagled the 15th and first with putts of 30 and 20 feet, and when he birdied four of the next six he was 10 under for the day.

That meant a birdie-eagle finish on the short eighth and 513-yard ninth would bring that 59.

"It did cross my mind, but I've had some problems on No. 8 in the past," he said. "I was pretty happy with a 3 there."

A closing 10-foot birdie putt gave Karlsson his 15-under total, and now his sights are on a win that would lift him from eighth to sixth in the 2008 European Ryder Cup race.

The money on offer in Milan might not compare to Sawgrass -- $2.6 million against $9.5 million -- but a victory would bring him 24 world ranking points and that is the same as finishing fourth in Florida.

"It's obviously not right. As an achievement it's not even close, but it's good for the European Tour and if I can pull off the win here it'll be good for me too," Karlsson added.

He would have gone to Florida if he had known he was in the field earlier, but confusion over whether the cut-off point for the world's top 50 was this Monday or the previous one made him decide to stay in Europe.

"There are many plusses to coming here," said Karlsson, currently ranked 48th. "It cuts down on the travelling and I get to see the kids on Monday too before going to Ireland."

Otto, battling to regain a full European Tour card, added a 66 to his opening 65, while Foster hit back from a double bogey with two birdies in his last three holes for a 66.

Nick Dougherty, just three days on from his mother's funeral, lost a ball and also took 6 on the par-4 sixth, but he was still round in 66 for 7 under.

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